Mid-Atlantic Dog Training

10/08/2024

Excellent post about getting a second or third dog. Key takeaway, "Wait until your [first dog] is 100% [obedience] trained and under control".

We want to add to our pack. Second dog… yes / no? Why?

This is an every day question. None of us want our pups to live alone. Often times, we don't feel like we can give our pups the time and attention they need. Using our basic reasoning skills, we deduce that by getting our pup a playmate, we will somehow solve the problem. The reality is, it usually adds to the problem, making the situation worse.

When we have a one dog household, we can put protocols in place, to quickly change the dog's behavior. The only outside influences are people, sights and sounds; all of which can be controlled and adapted to. A second living, breathing, and thinking creature, that can't reason or make healthy decisions, is harder to keep under control. Just like with unhealthy relationships in our lives, you will find, the good dog does not make the bad dog better. The bad dog always brings the good dog down.

I don’t want you to think I am innocent of the things I teach. A lot of this stuff I learned from personal experience. Here is just a bit of my story. About four years ago my dream dog, Banjo, a Black and Tan Doberman, passed suddenly at the age of 4 ½ from an aggressive cancer. As far as I was concerned, she was the perfect dog. She was the dog that launched me into dog training. This dog was more than just a pet, she was part of my income. So what was I to do? I had a great idea. I will get two this time, so I will have a backup. This was a great idea as long as it was an idea. I searched long and hard and found two Doberman pups, a male and a female, from separate litters, and in separate states. Their birthdays were only a few weeks apart. When I got both the pups home, the challenges began. I kept asking myself, what have I done? The first year was the hardest. If it wasn’t for the help of a dear friend, I am not sure how I would have done it. I would call her and she would take one, or both pups for a couple of days, so I could get a little rest. It was not a fun time.

My second great experience was only about 16 months after I got the two Dobies. My family had found a One year old Newfoundland on Craigslist. It was in a very undesirable situation. With no warning to me this dog shows up in my living room. We had had Newfie's before and they are so sweet and docile, right… WRONG!! This Newfie was neither sweet nor docile. I hadn't been in the door for five minutes before he charged my male Dobie. So now I have two 100lb + dogs trying to kill each other in my living room. In all of the commotion, I got trapped between the sofa and the dogs and went to the ground. Now the dogs were on top of me going at it. I put my hand up to shield my face and the Newfie got my right pinky where it attaches to the hand, ripping the skin and severing the tendon. I was able to make it to my feet and I called my Dobie off and laid on the Newfie until he gave up. Then, off to the hospital I went. This is the only dog that has ever caused enough damage to warrant stitches and a minor surgery.

As you can imagine, I was not happy. I didn't ask for the dog and we were not keeping him. The decision was made before I even got back home. As soon as I walked in the door I made the official proclamation, the dog must go!!!!! My son, 12 at the time began his pleading. I gave him all of the reasons that we could not keep the dog, and he gave me no good reason why we should. Then he made this statement, “ Dad, if you fix other people's dogs, why can't you fix Gunner? He has had a hard life and just needs to be taught how to be good.” So how do you argue with that? VERY LOUDLY!!!! After much calming down and talking about it, I agreed to let him stay. The agreement was that my son had to work with him every day after school until he could live peacefully with the other dogs in the house. This process took about a year, with many dog fights in the process. Now Gunner is a therapy dog and I also use him to work the aggressive dogs I get. Even though Gunner is rehabilitated, we always have to keep in mind that that aggressive behavior is still deep inside him.

So to answer the question, When should we add another dog to the family? When the dog you have now is under control. That usually isn't after just a few training sessions. If you notice in the story above, I was able to call Rambler, my Dobie, off of Gunner. Rambler was about 1 ½ and he was completely off leash and obedience trained. He knew the “out” command, so when I gave it, he would let go and stop fighting. If that weren't the case, one would have probably killed the other. If you think for a minute that you can get two 100+ lb dogs apart, you are kidding yourself. Having one dog that was beautifully trained made the situation doable.

My advice is, be patient. Wait until your pup is 100% trained and under control. When you bring in the new pup, do it cautiously. Once the first fight happens, it harder to stop future fights.. Keep both dogs on a leash and allow no rough play for a while. Create a calm environment for both dogs. Feed and treat separately. No toys around each other. Don't allow them to immediately run free together in the yard. Make sure the same rules apply for the new pup. If it is a rescue, don't feel sorry for the new pup and over do it with affection. Take it slow……Use a crate to create structure.

08/08/2024

Congratulations to mutual clients from Hickory Ridge Animal Hospital who recently completed training. Malakai is the younger black + white corgi who is very insecure, prompting reactive barking whenever he sees dogs or people out on a walk.The barking occurs at home too, whenever visitors arrive. His anxiousness also extends to issues with marking and separation anxiety, manifesting in destroying bedding and chewing his soft crate. In addition, he’s quite nervous about being handled at the vet.

JR is the older of the two, and although does not really possess the same insecure nature of the younger corgi, he nonetheless tends to follow suit by barking whenever Malakai barks, and they just continue to feed off each other.

Together with their owner, we began working on helping them feel more confident, calm and relaxed around strangers at home and in their neighborhood, by providing lots of structure and clear expectations with a solid obedience foundation. Dogs thrive on structure and by providing them a routine schedule and consistent direction, they soon began to recognize a pattern of predictability, which ultimately contributed towards building their confidence in familiar settings.

Once things were in a good place in areas they experience daily, we then scheduled a meeting in a much busier and unfamiliar environment, offering even more distractions, to further proof their obedience and behaviors. Everyone did great!

01/08/2024

Dogs aren't robots that are being programmed by your trainer.

Work begins before coming to a trainer and after leaving a trainer. You cannot have minimal foundation and then want 8 months worth of training results/progress in 3-4 months And you cannot keep or even move forward in progress and results if you do not follow through at home thereafter. Dog trainers are not wizards or magicians.

28/07/2024

This is 7 month old Beenie relaxing after his first training lesson. His owner has never had a dog before. After working on some training on her own, she was sensing that Beenie had gotten to the point where instead of obeying commands, he was contemplating whether he should comply or not. That coupled with his over-excited responses to distractions outside and pushy behaviors around guests, she thought she and Bernie maybe could use some additional guidance.

Our training begins primarily indoors at first, where there are fewer distractions, to help ensure he knows his commands well. So far they are off to a very good start. Beenie’s self control with visitors and obedience are greatly improved. Next phase we’ll be moving the training outdoors in order to up the level of distraction and further test his obedience. After all, obedience is essentially distraction training, and we want our dogs to be respectful and well-behaved regardless of where we are or what’s going on around them. Stay tuned!

17/07/2024

This is Rocket, whose owner contacted me for help with training. He’s previously completed a puppy training class, but he’s still nipping, pulling on the leash when on walks, barks at the TV, gets too excited when guests visit, and has even growled at one of the owners. Being they also have two young children, they decided it was important to get things under control and teach Rocket how to be a respectful member of the family. Rarely is a dog going to receive the training it needs in a class environment, so now the real work begins in Rocket’s home.

03/07/2024

As you enjoy our nation's Independence Day celebration, please remember: Fireworks can frighten animals and may cause them to run away.

Make sure cats and dogs have identification tags on their collars with up-to-date contact information.
• Have your veterinarian microchip your pets. Take a current photo to help identify each pet. This can improve your chances of getting them back if they run away.

Choose the safest area for your pets to be if your neighbors set off fireworks.
• Make sure all fencing is intact and secure your yard.
• Know that larger dogs can often easily jump fences.

Crate when home, or placing your pets in a crate or safe, escape-proof room.

If you are attending a celebration, party or fireworks display, leave pets at home.

Lastly, if your dog becomes anxious or fearful, DO NOT coddle and baby them, e.g. saying, "It's OK", as it will only reinforce that nervous state of mind. Remain neutral, stay calm and relaxed, and act as is all is just fine, and it will be.

30/06/2024

Understandably there tends to be a lot of questions about socialization when pet owners acquire a puppy. There is also a lot of conflicting information regarding what that entails, whether from friends, family members or neighbors that have or have had dogs. Of course there’s also the abundance of information shared on the Internet too, from people we don’t know and from lots of different dog training professionals that don’t share the same opinions either. This can be a particularly tricky endeavor, especially for first time dog owners.

In a dog’s first three months of life, they will experience a socialization period that is regarded as the most impactful time, in regards to shaping how they will react to their environment as an adult dog. Carefully exposing them to a wide variety of people, places, sights, sounds and situations can and will make a huge impact on them.

To add my piece to the pie, one of the first questions I get a lot, is in regards to socializing them with other dogs. It’s important to know that some dogs, like humans, are not particularly social, and this can just be their inherent temperament. It’s not necessarily a problem, because socializing your dog doesn’t even mean that your dog has to meet and play with other dogs; they don’t even have to like other dogs, but they MUST accept that there are other dogs and that they are not allowed to behave badly in their presence.

My rule of thumb for dogs under 6 months of age is to only introduce them to other dogs up to 6 months of age, and/or older dogs that I personally know are very well trained, obedient, and listen to their owners. I don’t have children, but if I did, I’d want to know something about the other children mine were playing with, especially if the other kids were older. I’d want to know they aren’t bullies, are well behaved and listen to their parents.

Proper socialization can prevent a dog from being fearful or reactive in the presence of other dogs. This is one of the main reasons I strongly advise dog owners NOT go to dog parks, or allow your dog to interact, i.e. say “HI” to every dog they may encounter outside, because it’s a crapshoot when it comes to the mix of dogs you’ll encounter, and you don’t want to reinforce and reward their arousal in these situations.

Be careful about how and when your dog is allowed to interact with other dogs, and particular about the dogs they interact with. They should also always be unleashed, so they are free to move about. In the accompanying photo, the middle dog was a puppy client. The dog on the right was a neighbor’s dog we already knew and had observed, and the dog on the left was my dog. The two younger ones readily and safely engaged in the expected hierarchal wrestling activity, which we call play, to sort out their relationship. My older dog had a history of being very tolerant of young pups, but is none too interested in the wrestling game, and is pretty adept at safely expressing his boundaries, which also provided a beneficial learning experience for the younger dog.

Ultimately having a dog that is well adjusted and confident is the goal. A dog that can be neutral, i.e. calm and relaxed, in the present of other dogs, speaks more accurately to what a well-socialized dog is, than the idea of a dog that is constantly aroused when seeing, or in the presence of other dogs.

26/06/2024

When starting with a puppy ...

10/06/2024

02/06/2024

28/05/2024

People so often resist change, all the while even when change offers growth and resolution..

Done both. The former beats the hell out of the latter.

14/05/2024

There’s a new puppy in the Barker household, mutual clients with Hunt Valley Animal Hospital. Tito, a 10 week old Redbone coonhound. He’s being slowly integrated into the house with another dog, 6 year old Tammy, whose been with her family since she was 9 weeks old. She’s a good girl, but early on tended to become easily over-aroused, prompting some reactivity issues. We worked with Tammy a couple of years ago and she has had a terrific turnaround, Still we’re taking slow and making sure she isn’t overwhelmed by the new pup, and that he isn’t bothered by her, as she hasn’t had much experience directly interacting with other dogs. Both dogs need to absolutely see the owners as leaders and at the same time advocates for each other.

We had a little growling from Tammy at the very first meeting on opposite sides of the fence. With dogs we’re always dealing with arousal and the various distractions that elicit it. So we’re making sure each dog has lots of structure and are closely monitoring them. Because of Tammy’s initial reaction, we’re first letting them get used to each other without actually directly interacting. They are still learning about each other through their sense of smell and observing their owner’s relationships with the other dog.

12/05/2024

Keep it simple. Dogs appreciate clarity.

The dog training world loves to overcomplicate and make simple things into complex things—either because folks are unhealthily obsessed, or because they’re desperate to seem wise, deep, and insightful.

Hey, if you want to ponder, and ruminate, and explore every nook and cranny of possibilities, knock yourself out.

But, the unfortunate reality is that this hyper-fixation on “finding the underlying answers—answers which we can never truly know”, and thinking these guesses will reveal the much needed answers for trainers and owners looking to find actual answers that can be applied with no questioning or uncertainty or paralyzing confusion—is not only delusional, but also terribly detrimental to solving problems (sorry dogs, sorry owners) which if looked at through a far simpler, and far more useful lens… would reveal a simple blueprint for creating solutions and harmonious lives with our dogs.

Until dogs start talking, we can only guess as to what is truly behind their behavior, and even then, if they could tell us, we’d still never know to what degree each component in their constellation of issues were the most pressing and needed the most focus. In other words, we’d still be guessing.

Or, we can take a far more simple, and a far more useful and effective approach by simply asking the questions in this graphic, and then acting on the answers we receive back.

This dog training thing is far easier than most would like you to believe. Because if you knew how simple, and obvious it all was, these folks wouldn’t enjoy the manufactured status, the false-but-feel-good-ego-boosts, nor the remuneration that comes with having the unique and deep insights which only the anointed few are able to enjoy.

www.thegooddogway.com

11/05/2024

Brock and Tobias are 6 month old siblings. Their owners are experienced with dogs, but they hadn’t had a young pup in quite a while. They also were in the process of moving out of the burbs to a new home in a much more populated busy urban area. Having one young dog is a lot of work and having two, that are also related, can at times certainly double your troubles and up your game. The decided up their game and reach out for a bit of training help. After their first training lesson, their owner sent over a photo of them later that evening practicing how to be calm and relaxed.

09/05/2024

8 month old yellow lab Leo’s owners contacted me primarily concerned about his behavior on walks, as he's way more focused on everything but his owners. However with a bit more questioning, it was revealed that Leo had also some issues at home too, especially when anyone enters the house. So, in addition to introducing some new leash walking practices, we also began with some indoor obedience too, it’s all about self-control.

08/05/2024

The post below made me think about working with difficult dogs, which can at times be extremely challenging for some owners. This is because the work often requires modifying the status quo, e.g. making hard choices, embracing change and stepping out of one’s comfort zone. Comfort itself can be double-edged. We can actually become quite comfortable with poor choices over time, simply because they become familiar. At the same time we resist any prospect of change because it may make us uncomfortable, even though it may present opportunity for better outcomes in the long run.

Getting on board the EXCUSE TRAIN is one of the best ways to avoid getting better, because it gives us an out when faced with the prospect of change, and most of us HATE change.

But if we can come up with various excuses, It can stave off having to face facts.

The next time an instructor says something, think about that almost instant internal response. Is it an actual acknowledgement that we need to do the hard work, or is it a string of words designed to deflect?

The Excuse Train becomes its own sort of narcotic, and many choose to get aboard and stay there. Try to figure out YOUR reactions when asked to change----It can be enlightening,

05/05/2024

Corgis Malakai (10 mos.) and J.R. (11 yrs.), mutual clients with Hickory Ridge Animal Hospital, are resting after their first training lesson. Their owner reached out for help, mainly for the younger Malakai, due to his outdoor reactivity with barking at both people and other dogs. However, J.R. also tends to follow suit with a barking accompaniment of barking. Indoors, both dogs also tend to be a bit overly aroused, greeting visitors with barking and/or jumping. It was clear that both dogs were lacking a lot in the way of structure and leadership. In just a few short weeks, their owner noted that friends and family were already remarking on their progress.

04/05/2024

Ozzy and his owners at the waterfront for an outdoor lesson. He’s coming along pretty nicely, and has made significant progress in his leash walking skills since the first time we met.

03/05/2024

It's not that dogs don't listen, but rather owner's have not yet taken the time needed to adequately teach.

27/04/2024

This handsome guy is Laz. His owner reached out because of his dog reactivity, pulling while walking on leash, and with concerns on how to leave him home safely, due to some separation anxiety. He’s a work in progress, but is making good strides.

We met recently to look at his leashing walking and reactivity to other dogs. We saw several dogs, some even barked at us. He did great; remained focused on walking by his owner's side owner and there were no bad reactions from Laz at all.

26/04/2024

Congratulations to Sam, and his owners, who recently finished training. He was about a 1.5 yrs. old when we started. This is at the peak of when a young dog starts to mature into a young adolescence. The smaller the breed of a dog the faster they mature. During this time they are going through puberty so it’s expected that you will see a change in behavior and a new awareness or fearful period during this time. And just like human teenagers, it can bring about renewed challenges to authority.

Sam was overly excited with visitors, and was still nipping his owners. And when on walks barking at people, and vehicles, especially delivery trucks. Sam still gives out an initial alert bark, but his owners are now able to quickly step in and quiet him, and he is no longer nipping at them, as he’s learned that is not allowed. His behaviors outdoors are also greatly improved, as his focus is now on following his owners, instead of leading them, and being wary of what’s going on around them.

Sam and his family live in a very quiet suburb, so for his final proofing lesson, they came into the city and visited a busy park, which offered endless novel distractions. Sam did extremely well and was calm and relaxed throughout. Good job everyone!

23/04/2024

Congratulations to Australian shepherd Karma and her owners who recently finished obedience training. Obedience is essentially distraction training, and a goal to have a dog that remains, calm, neutral, relaxed and focused on you, despite what’s going on around them. For her final proofing lesson, we went to a location outside their regular neighborhood. We met at a large busy city park, she had never been to before, in order to present a larger variety of distractions. At 10 months old, she was fast approaching the peak of her adolescence, a time you’ll often see changes in behavior or fear stages in dogs. As ongoing socialization, it’s always a good idea to continually practice exposing our dogs to lots of difference environments, sights and sounds, so as to minimize any future reticence or nervousness in new situations. Karma did great!

20/04/2024

Congratulations to Ellie, Jessie and their owners who also recently completed their training. Neither dog was particularly obedient and each had their fair share of bad behaviors.

Ellie is a beautiful large white Great Pyrenees mix, and people really gravitate to and often approach wanting to touch her, so much so that she had started to become wary of them, and was prone to barking, growing and snapping at them, especially when coming into their home.

Jessie, the younger Border collie mix, was picking up on some of Ellie’s reactions and also tended to be a little anxious + nervous in certain situations, She was more difficult to walk of the two, due to her unpredictable leash reactivity, coupled with frequent lunging for small animals, because of a very high prey drive.

They live out in the suburbs, so they came into the city for their proofing lesson, so as to see how well they would do around more distractions. They did great at the park, and are also thriving at home, so much so that now their friends and family also comment on how well behaved they are. Keep up the good work!

20/04/2024

Congratulations to Potluck and her owners, mutual clients with Northwind Animal Hospital, who recently finished training. She did really well on her first visit to Patterson Park, and it was clear she knows her stuff. She’s still a work in progress at home, and as her owners are learning, she will be as consistent in her obedience and good behavior, as they are in maintaining clear consistent expectations.

01/04/2024

To have well-behaved dog in all respects, training begins in the home.